


He Moved His Desk.

by infinitestarsintheskye



Category: Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, I am so sorry, Set post epilogue, but also angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-30 22:21:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8551417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infinitestarsintheskye/pseuds/infinitestarsintheskye
Summary: He moved his desk. He never moved anything.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic came entirely from a question that was bugging me after watching the Poe Party epilogue. I apologise for possibly the angsty-ist fic that I have ever written.

He moved his desk. He never moved anything. He had moved into that house, placed everything exactly where he had wanted it to be and left it. But he moved his desk. Lenore opened her mouth to comment on this wildly out of character behaviour but she stopped. The desk had faced a wall before, but now it had been haphazardly throw against the window on the other side of the room, papers from it still strewn across the floor. The only thing on it was a half-finished drink, the amber liquid seeming to glow against the dark wood desk. He’d been trying to write, you could tell from the papers on the floor, balled up and scored out, scores of black ink damning the words that eluded him. 

From the window, you could see the trees that secluded the house from the rest of the world, you could see the stream that served as a small moat, a further warning to passers-by to leave him to his seclusion. The thing that stopped Lenore in her tracks was the clear and central view of the bridge. Annabel appeared next to her silently. Lenore was glad when she appeared back in the house, someone who wasn’t Edgar to talk to, well that was like winning the lottery. She watched as Annabel surveyed the room, a small look of concern across her face, and put the pieces together. Her face fell from the tight constraints of concern into a look of utter sadness. Lenore put a hand on Annabel’s forever cold arm, and she gave a small smile before staring hopelessly at the floor. 

“Lenore?” A voice came from the door. 

The two ghosts turned to see Edgar standing at the door, slightly dishevelled, his eyes staring desperately at Lenore. 

“Why are you standing there? You need to move!” Edgar declared frantically. 

Lenore turned to look at Annabel, whose face retained its delicate sadness. She hadn’t seen him before now, not since she’d died. Lenore didn’t know what her ghostly presence would do to Poe, either drive him mad or make him far too uncharacteristically happy. Either way, avoiding this initial meeting was in everybody’s best interest. 

“What are you staring at? You need to move!” He declared again, before storming forwards and shoving her out of the way of the desk. 

“I need to be able to see out, I always need to be able to see.”

Lenore watched as Annabel cautiously walked around him, before finally coming to stand next to her fellow ghost. 

“He can’t…” Annabel trailed off quietly, her eyes fixed on Edgar, who had his arms braced against the desk, staring out of the window as if every breath he took depended on it. 

“No.” 

Edgar whipped his head around to look at Lenore.

“What did you say? Who are you talking to.” 

“No one.” She shot back. 

“You must be hearing things.”

“I know you think that I’m crazy Lenore, but trust me, I am not.” He replied, slowly turning his head back to the window. 

“Would you go please. I have work to do.” He said after a moments silence. 

“Whatever.” Lenore rolled her eyes and flounced out of the office, Annabel trailing behind her. 

“I’m sorry.” Lenore whispered as she shut the door. 

“It’s okay. It’s probably a good thing that he can’t see me. I wouldn’t want to upset him.” Annabel quietly replied, still staring at her shoes. 

It was obvious to anyone with eyes that she didn’t really mean it. They stood there, lingering outside the office door for a while, Annabel staring sadly at the floor, Lenore, for once, not knowing what to say. Suddenly Annabel’s head shot up, a look of glee on her face. 

“I have an idea. Is Edgar still at his desk?” 

Lenore cracked the door open slightly and saw Edgar, seated now, at his desk swirling the lone drink as he religiously stared out. 

“Yeah. Why?” 

“Wait here.” 

And at that Annabel flew down the staircase, running as if her ghostly life depended on it. 

“You know that you’re a ghost?! You can just appear places right!” Lenore called after her, but she was gone. 

Annabel flew out of the house, across the garden, and down the steps that led to the stream. She hesitated when she reached the bridge. She hadn’t dared to go near it, not since, Edgar took her body away from there and she hadn’t returned since. But she had to try. She tentatively put her foot on the bridge and took a few careful strides forward. She turned around and looked up at the window where Edgar’s desk now sat, but he was gone. No. He couldn’t not be there, he had been staring, looking, watching, waiting for her. Tears pricked her eyes, she couldn’t help it. She was ready to step off the bridge, accepting that Edgar would never see her again when she heard him. 

“Annabel! Annabel!” 

Edgar was running so quickly that he almost fell down the stairs. Annabel backed up on the bridge as he approached her. His face was an indescribable mix of happiness, sadness and wonderment. 

“Annabel.” He breathed in nothing but disbelief. 

“Is this real? Are you here?” 

“Yes I’m here.” She replied, beaming. 

He reached out to hold her hand, but it fell through. 

“Sorry, I haven’t quite got the hang of the being corporeal yet.”

“It’s fine. Just seeing you, speaking to you is enough.” 

Edgar paused. 

“Annabel, I have to ask. What did you mean, when you said…” 

There was a pause. They both knew exactly what he wanted to ask, the phrase clinging to the very air that surrounded them. 

“Well, I guess I meant that, if things had been different, if my family wasn’t so…” 

She took a deep breath. 

“It would have been you, not him.“ She finished, looking at him nervously in the eye. 

“Things are different now!” Edgar exclaimed. 

“But I’m dead Edgar. And it seems that the only place you can see me is here.” 

“Annabel, I would stand here forever if it meant I got to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“You can’t Edgar. I wouldn’t ask you to do that.” Annabel said softly. 

“I’ve been trying to write you something.” He mumbled after a moments silence. 

“I know. They’ve all been very beautiful Edgar.” 

“No they haven’t. I thought, I thought maybe, if I saw you, that something would come to me.” 

“And?” 

“No.”

Silence. The sun was beginning to set in the trees behind them. 

“It’s getting dark, Edgar, we should probably go back…”

“NO!” He cried.

“No, not yet. Just, let me remember this for a moment longer. Please. Let me remember you.”

Annabel reached for his hand again, and summoning every ounce of strength she had, took it in her cold palm. The look on Edgar’s face was one she wished she could bottle and hold on to forever. 

“I’m always here Edgar. Even if you can’t see me.” 

She let his hand slowly drop from hers and before he could protest, she walked right through him towards the end of the bridge. She looked back at him fleetingly before stepping off the bridge, leaving Edgar alone. She disappeared before his eyes, not for the first time, evaporating into the dusky air. He let out a deep sigh, before putting his hands in his pockets and trudging back up to his now darkened study. Much to his surprise there was candle lit on his desk, and next to it, a piece of paper that he hadn’t put there. There was a small line of writing on it that Edgar could only just make out by the candle light. 

“I’m still here. – A.L.”

**Author's Note:**

> Do you forgive me? The question that bugged me about the epilogue was, since Annabel is a ghost, could Poe see her? Or since there is no more Krishanti to bring her back to the realm of the living, would only other ghosts, Lenore be able to see her? So naturally I went for the most painful option. Thank you for reading and again, I am sorry.


End file.
